Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One star Rebecca Ferguson details the franchise's unorthodox, script-free productions. After six previous installments, Tom Cruise's superspy Ethan Hunt is set to return for a new adventure this summer alongside Ferguson's Ilsa, Simon Pegg's Benji, and Ving Rhames' Luther. Ferguson first joined the franchise with 2015's Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation and serves as Ethan's on-again off-again ally and love interest, and a formidable spy in her own right.

Ahead of the Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One release date next month, Ferguson discusses her time making the franchise thus far and the new film in a recent interview with Town & Country. According to the actor, Cruise and director Christopher McQuarrie aren't big on using actual scripts, which was a bit of an adjustment for her. Check out Ferguson's full comment below:

“We don’t really work with scripts. As someone who likes structure, I find it tricky, but it makes me confront the fact that I have zero control. There is method to the madness. I can tell you [Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One] is an explosive, dynamic film with incredible stunts you’ve never seen before.”

The Mission: Impossible Franchise's Unorthodox Productions Explained

Tom Cruise as Ethan Hunt in Mission: Impossible – Fallout.

It's unclear if the Mission: Impossible films have always been made without scripts, but the more recent entries have certainly become quite good at it. As McQuarrie is the only director helm multiple installments (four in total, including Mission: Impossible 7 and 8), it's clear that he and Cruise are a match made in heaven. Both creators, it seems, are on the same wave length when it comes to crafting an action-packed thrill ride.

While McQuarrie and Cruise may have a general idea of what they want the film to look like, the stunts often are devised first with the actual story then put together around them. Mission: Impossible 7's motorcycle jump, for example, was something that Cruise was adamant on doing, and the film's train crash was McQuarrie's idea. Other scenes are then added to make these sequences part of a larger story, with the whole production essentially a living and breathing thing as the narrative is fleshed out and honed in real time.

As the WGA strike continues, Mission: Impossible 8's production recently shut down, speaking to just how much writing is done on the fly. It's certainly not unusual for films to be rewritten and altered during production as issues arise, but it seems like the Mission: Impossible franchise takes this to an entirely new level. Although it's easy to imagine that this method of production could be disastrous in terms of telling a coherent story, it seems to be working out well so far, and early Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One reactions suggest that this trend will continue.

Source: Town & Country

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